Another View of Dynamic Criteria: A Critical Reanalysis of Barrett, Caldwell, and Alexander

Abstract

We argue a divergent perspective from that taken by Barrett, Caldwell, and Alexander (1985) in a critical reanalysis of the evidence for dynamic criteria. Those authors distinguished three definitions of the dynamic criterion phenomenon and concluded, on the basis of secondary analyses of several sets of published data, that dynamic criteria do not exist. Moreover, they concluded that most of the temporal changes in criteria reported in those data sets could be explained by methodological artifacts. In several cases these artifacts were listed in summary form, without a complete consideration of the implications of invoking these artifacts as post hoc explanations. The purpose of this comment is to clarify the debate on dynamic criteria by critiquing the Barrett et al. study. We suggest that a fruitful solution to the problem may lie in trying to understand criteria per se rather than searching for artifacts.

Skill decay: A comparative assessment of training protocols and individual differences in the loss and reacquisition of complex skills

“…Although the prediction of Individual differences in task performance has had a relatively long history, there appears to be some recent disagreement about the stability of ability-performance relationships over time (e.g., Austin, Humphreys, & Hulin, 1989;Barrett, Morris, & Alexander, 1993;Ranges, Schneider, & Miles, 1990;Hulin, Henry, & Noon, 1990). One of the problems with previous literature investigating this issue has been the use of relatively simple information processing tasks which have been critiqued as being non-representative of real world complex tasks .…”

The Validity of Broad and Narrow Personality Traits For Predicting Job Performance: The Differential Effects of Time

“…Thus, the correlation actually strengthened somewhat across time. Overall, despite the oftenregarded ubiquity of a simplex pattern in criterion-criterion relationships across time (Austin et al, 1989), such a pattern of correlations was not observed in these data.…”

“…Note that, while a simplex pattern is often discussed as being ubiquitous in the literature (Austin et al, 1989), some studies have failed to detect such a pattern of correlations (e.g., Hofmann et al, 1993).…”

“…These investigations identified that as criterion scores were measured further apart, their correlations became smaller (i.e., a simplex pattern; Austin, Humphreys, & Hulin, 1989).…”

Attributions and the Evaluation of Dynamic Performance

“…As discussed by Ghiselli (1959), criteria had been considered static as a result of temporal stability being assumed rather than documented. However, according to Ghiselli, there is reason to believe that job performance does change over time --an issue that came to be known as dynamic criteria and stirred a substantial debate in the literature (e.g., Austin, Humphreys, & Hulin, 1989;Barrett, Caldwell, & Alexander, 1985). The literature pertaining to dynamic criteria is reviewed in the proceeding sections.…”